Smoking product and method of manufacture



y 1959 s. ROSENBERG ET AL 2,887,414

SMOKING PRODUCT AND METHOD OF MANUFACTURE;

Filed March 6, 195a FIG; I

C|;H2OH C O H I li H L DIALDEHYDE sTARcH TOBACCO ADHESIVE PREPARATION FI 2 PREPARATION RAW TOBBACO POLYSACCHARIDE GUM SCRAP STEMS' HUMECTANTCUTTINGS I 1 CHOP ToEAcco DISPERSION IN WATER GRIND AND MIX WITHSOLUTION OF BLEND TOBACCO DIALDEHYDE POLYSAGOHARIDE SHEET MANUFACTUREMIX TOBACCO PARTICLES WITH LIQUID ADHESIVE ENDLESS FORMING INVENTORS SRFA U CE DAVID BANDEL ROLL OF FINISHED- BY SHELDON ROSENBERG ATTORNEYUnited States 1 SMOKING PRODUCT AND METHOD or MANUFACTURE SheldonRosenberg, Westport, Conn and David Handel,

Chestnut Hill, Mass., assignors to American Machine & Foundry Company, acorporation of New Jersey Application March 6, 1958, Serial No.719,641

12 Claims; (Cl. 131-47) This invention relates to a smoking product inthe form of a sheet of tobacco particles bound together by an adhesive.More particularly, the invention relatesto the combination of finelydivided tobacco, a polysaccharide adhesive and a dialdehydepolysaccharide.

Tobacco sheets have been described which are manu- "atet factored fromfinely divided tobacco and a variety of manufacture into smokingarticles on some modern ma chines and is subject to disintegration bysaliva in a smokers mouth.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel tobaccosheet material of great water resistance and wet strength.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a method of makingwater resistant tobacco sheet which includes methyl cellulose andrelated cellulose others as well as gum karaya, gum tragacanth,polyuronides, galactomannans and dextrans.

Another object of the invention is to provide a method of making tobaccosheet from finely divided tobacco, a polysaccharide adhesive and adialdehyde polysaccharide.

The present invention resides in the combination of finely dividedtobacco, a film-forming polysaccharide adhesive and. a dialdehydepolysaccharide which acts as a cross-linking or waterproofing material.Among suitable dialdehyde polysaccharides are dialdehyde forms ofstarch, cellulose, dextran and galactomannans such as locust bean gum. Atobacco sheet may be formed by mixing a major amount of tobacco powderwith a minor part of film-forming polysaccharide gum and a dialdehydepolysaccharide in water to form a viscous slurry which is spread on asheet forming surface and dried into a tobacco sheet. A tobacco sheetcan also be made in laminated form as described in US. Patent 2,734,510in, which a polysaccharide adhesive is combined with dialdehydepolysaecharide.

In the drawing:

Fig. 1 is a structurahforrnula of one-0f the units in dialdehyde starch,a fragment of the preferred polymeric adhesive cross-linking agent usedto make water-resistant tobacco sheet according to this invention.

Fig. 2 is a. schematic fiow-diagfram which illustrates the manufactureof tobacco sheet according to this invention.

According to the present invention, finely divided tobacco is preparedfrom any part of the tobacco plant such as leaves, stems, stalks orroots. Various different 2. species of tobacco may be blended together.The tobacco is preferably cleaned and finely chopped. Then the tobaccois powdered by dry grinding in a ball mill, al-. though wet milledtobacco may also be used. The tobacco particles are graded according tosize, and it is preferably to use tobacco which will pass through a 200mesh US. standard sieve, although particles as large as those which passa 60 mesh sieve may be used with good results.

The adhesive is prepared by dissolvingondispersing one to five percentby weight of a suitable polysaccharide film-forming adhesive gum inwater to form a viscous preparation. Among the suitable adhesives arecellulose ethers such as methyl cellulose, carboxymethyl cellulose(particularly the alkali salts thereof), hydroxyethyl cellulose,hydroxyethyl carboxymethylcellulose and ethyl cellulose.Othersuitableadhesives which may becrosslinked and insolubilized bydialdehyde polysaccharidesp are film-forming starches such as amylose,polyuronides such as pectins and algins and their derivatives,galactomannans such as guar and locust bean gum, carrageenins, karayaand tragacanth. These materials may be used separately or in mixtures.

The dialdehyde polysaccharide cross-linking agent is prepared by rapidagitation of two to twenty percent by weight of the powder in boilingwater. This is cooled and mixed with the adhesive preparation. so thatfive to one hundred percent by weight of the dialdehyde is mixed withthe gum.

Various dialdehyde or oxy typepolysaccharide materia'ls are suitable forcross linking the film-forming 1 gums. These are prepared by theoxidation of polysac charides with periodic acid, for example, accordingto i The more completely oxidized materials are preferred, althoughalmost any degree of well-known reactions.

oxidation is somewhat useful.

Among the polysaccharides which form useful oxy derivatives ordialdehyde forms with periodic acid for the manufacture of tobacco sheetare cellulose, starch, dextran and galactomannans such as locust beangum. Starch is the preferred form. A molecular. fragment of this starchpolymer is represented in Fig. 1 of the drawing.

Tobacco powder is mixed with the aqueous adhesive solution whichcontains a dialdehyde polysaccharide crosslinking agent so that thetobacco constitutes about eightyfive percent of the solid material byweight. It is also valuable to include about five percent by weight oftotal solids of fibrous material and some conventional tobacco humectantin the viscous slurry so formed. All the ingredients can also be formedas a single dry mixture to which water and/or humectant may be added.viscous slurry is applied upon a film-forming surface to form a thinlayer of slurry Where it is dried into a sheet, humidified and strippedoff to be formed into a roll. This procedure is represented by Fig. 2 ofthe drawing The finished sheet can be used in all tobacco smokingarticles as shredded filler or as a wrapper or hinder.

A feature of the invention is that methyl cellulose, which does not forma water-resistant tobacco sheet with glyoxal can be used to form awater-resistant tobacco sheet with a dialdehyde polysaccharide such asstarch.

Oxystarch has inherent film-forming properties and when combined withpolysaccharide adhesive film-forming gums v gives a somewhat. strongersheet than glyoxala An ad-j vantage of the use of oxypolysaccharides(dialdehyde The.

R The invention is further illustrated by the following examples inwhich the dialdehyde materials were substantially completely oxidized:

Example 1 In a preferred example of the manufacture of tobacco sheetaccording to this invention five pounds of sodium carboxymethylcellulose, which forms a two percent by weight aqueous solutioncharacterized by a viscosity between 250 and 1,000 centipoises at 20 C.as measured on a Brookfield viscosimeter were dispersed in 145 pounds-Example 2 In an example of the manufacture of tobacco sheet according tothis invention, five pounds of methyl cellulose, which forms a 2% byweight aqueous solution characterized by a viscosity of approximately4,000 centipoises at 20 C. as measured on a Brookfield viscosimeter, andtwo and one-half pounds of glycerine were added to 145 pounds of water.

To this solution were added forty pounds of a 10% solution of completelyperiodate oxidized locust bean gun (dialdehyde carob gum) in water andthe composite solution was mixed. Twenty pounds of tobacco dust whichpassed an 80 mesh U.S. standard sieve were mixed into the liquid to forma smooth homogeneous slurry. This slurry was applied on a stainlesssteel film-forming surface where it was dried, remoistened and removedas a continuous sheet.

Example 3 In another example of the manufacture of tobacco sheetaccording to this invention four pounds of 200 mesh locust bean gum,which forms a 2% by weight aqueous solution characterized by a viscositybetween 800 and 2,500 centipoises at 20 C. as measured on a Brookfieldviscosimeter, were dispersed in one hundred pounds of water with threepounds of sorbitol.

To this solution were added 1.2 pounds of oxydextran (dialdehydedextran) and the composite solution was mixed. Twenty pounds of tobaccodust were mixed into the liquid to form a smooth, homogeneous slurry.This slurry was applied on a film-forming surface where it was dried,remoistened and removed as a .continuous sheet with a moisture contenton a dry weight basis between 10% and 30%.

Example 4 In a further example of the manufacture of tobacco sheetaccording to this invention, a dry blend of two pounds of locus bean gumand two pounds of sodium carboxymethyl cellulose and one pound of methylcellulose was dispersed in 150 pounds of water. Ten pounds of U.S.P.grade glycerine were added and mixed with the viscous solution.

To this solution were added fifty pounds of a 5% solution of completelyperiodate oxidized starch (dialdehyde starch) in water and the compositesolution was mixed. Twenty-five pounds of tobacco dust which passed a200 mesh U.S. standard sieve were mixed into the .4 liquid to form asmooth, homogeneous slurry. This slurry was applied on an endless,stainless steel filmforming belt surface where it was dried, remoistenedand removed in a continuous sheet.

There has thus been described a novel tobacco smoking product formed offinely divided tobacco, polysaccharide adhesive and dialdehydepolysaccharide cross-linking material. These ingredients are mixed andshaped into a sheet.

What is claimed is:

l. A composition of matter comprising in combination finely dividedtobacco, a polysaccharide film-forming gum and a dialdehydepolysaccharide.

2. A tobacco smoking product which comprises in combination finelydivided tobacco and at least one dialdehyde polysaccharide selected fromthe group consisting of starches, cellulosics, galactomannans anddextrans.

3. A tobacco smoking product which comprises in combination finelydivided tobacco, moisture, humectant, adhesive and at least onedialdehyde ploysaccharide selected from the group consisting ofstarches, cellulosic, galactomannans and dextrans.

4. A tobacco smoking product which comprises in combination finelydivided tobacco, a cellulosic adhesive and at least one dialdehydepolysaccharide selected from the group consisting of starches,cellulosics, galactomannans and dextrans.

5. A tobacco smoking product which comprises in combination finelydivided tobacco, a galactomannan adhesive and at least one dialdehydepolysaccharide selected from the group consisting of starches,cellulosics, galactomannans and dextrans.

6. A tobacco smoking product which comprises in combination finelydivided tobacco, carboxymethyl cellulose and dialdehyde starch.

7. A tobacco smoking product which comprises in combination finelydivided tobacco, methyl cellulose and dialdehyde starch.

8. A tobacco smoking product which comprises in combination locust beangum, finely divided tobacco and dialdehyde starch.

9. A tobacco sheet material which comprises in combination locust beangum, carboxymethyl cellulose, meth yl cellulose, finely divided tobacco,humectant, moisture and dialdehyde starch.

10. A method of making tobacco smoking material which comprises thesteps of forming a first aqueous dialdehyde polysaccharide composition,forming a second aqueous polysaccharide adhesive composition, mixingtogether said first and second compositions to form a mixture, combiningsaid mixture with finely divided tobacco to form a tobacco compositionand drying said tobacco composition to form a tobacco smoking material.

11. A method of making a tobacco smoking product comprising incombination the steps of combining an aqueous dialdehyde starchpreparation with finely divided tobacco and an aqueous solution of atleast one polysaccharide selected from the group consisting of locustbean gum, carboxymethyl cellulose and methyl cellulose to form a tobaccosheet and adjusting the moisture content of said tobacco sheet to avalue between 10% and 30% on a dry weight basis to form a tobaccosmoking product.

12. A method of making a tobacco smoking product which comprises incombination the steps of mixing in water finely divided tobacco, apolysaccharide adhesive film-forming gum and a dialdehyde polysaccharideto form a slurry,'applying said slurry upon a film-forming surface toform a thin layer of slurry and drying said thin layer of slurry to forma tobacco smoking product.

No references cited.

1. A COMPOSITION OF MATTER COMPRISING IN COMBINATION FINELY DIVIDEDTOBACCO, A POLYSACCHARIDE FILM-FORMING GUM AND A DIALDEHYDEPOLYSACCHARIDE.